An integrated resort planned for the former international airport at Hellenikon on the Athenian Riviera will span more than 634,000 square meters (6.8 million square feet), according to Lamda Development, part of the consortium that will build the €8 billion (US$9.1 billion) complex.
The project has been beset by delays; bids for the project were first called for way back in 2011, a decade after the airport closed. Lamda was chosen as the preferred investor in 2014. Last year at this time, Lamda CEO Odysseus Athanasiou predicted that by April 2019, Hellenikon will have “an image of works underway rather than of neglect.” But the plan approved in February by the Greek Council of State is still the subject of dispute among casino advocates, environmentalists and archaeologists, reported Casino News Daily.
So far, three U.S.-based global operators are said to be in the running for the airport license: Hard Rock International, Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment.
At the Delphi Economic Forum earlier this month, Mohegan Gaming CEO Mario Kontomerkos said Athens “has the chance to become the center of the integrated resort casino world, because with a two-hour flight it is connected to 19 countries with 6 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the global GDP.”
The proposed development will transform the former airport complex into a multi-purpose hub with shops, offices, sporting and conference facilities, luxury hotels, theme parks, museums, malls, cultural center, health facilities, educational and research venues and a marina, according to the Greek City Times.
Earlier this year, Games Magazine Brasil called the project “a landmark opportunity in the as-yet underpenetrated European market, occupying a designated prime location within the Hellinikon, the Kosmas metropolitan area on the site of the Athens former international airport and the adjacent coastal front.” It said the Greek government expects the development will have “a significant positive impact on the country’s economy.”
According to Tornos News, red tape could further delay the project; a local forestry official contends that a portion of the site is designated for reforestation and the Central Archeology Council is demanding that various installations of the former airport be declared “modern architectural monuments.”
